Door operating device



E. A. HARRIS DOOR OPERATING DEVICE April 17, 1934.

Filed Feb. 5, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l April 17, 1934. E. A. HARRIS DOOR OPERATING DEVICE Filed Feb, 5, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Apr. 17, 1934 DOOR OPERATING DEv'IoE Earl A. Harris, East Orange, N. J., assignor to Hydooraulic, Incorporated, East Orange, N. 1., a corporation of New Jersey Application February 5, 1931, Serial No. 513,718-

" 8 Claims. ((31. 268-58) This invention relates to an improvement in door operating devices and is intended more particularlyfor the opening and closing of garage doors or the like whichare designed to be raised and lowered in the opening and closing. operations.

The object of the invention is to improve the character of the opening and closing mechanism for such doors to facilitate an entirely automatic manipulation of the doors.

The mechanism for opening or closing the doors is located in the upper portion of the garage or other building and is designed for raising and lowering the doors by electrically operated means.

It utilizes a remote control for the door mechanism, permitting the controlling of the automatic opening or'closing of the doors from some remote point.

The invention may be applied to the operation of any sliding doors or the' like and is not limited to use on garage-doors.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the invention applied; i

Fig. 1a is a similar view of an end portion thereof;

Fig. 2 is an endelevation of the operating mechanism;

Fig.3 is a diagrammatic view of the remote control system; and

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view of the cable and pulley system. i

The invention is shown as applied to the raising and lowering of an overhead garage door or the like, although it may obviously be used for the operation of various types of doors, as may be found desirable.

The door is designated generally bythe numeral 1 in Fig. 1 and is shown in a closed position. This door 1 has a connecting rod 2 pivotally connected with the upper end thereof and also pivotally connected with a trolley 3 mounted for movement longitudinally of and within a track 4 shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The trolley 3 is moved lengthwise of the track 4 in order to raise and lower the door.

A cable 5 is fixed to the trolley 3 and extends over stationary pulleys 6 and '7 at the opposite ends of the track 4 and in opposite directions around a double sheave 8, thence to adjustable clamps 9 and 10, where the ends of this cable are anchored and held fixed, as shown in Fig. 1a.

Movement is imparted to the cable 5 and thence to the trolley 3 by moving the double sheave 8 lengthwise of its guide, formed by guide channels 11 arranged above the track 4. For this purpose, the double sheave 8 has a piston rod 12 com nected therewith and extending to a piston within a cylinder 13, so that, as. the piston and piston rod are moved back and forth within the cylin der 13, this motion is imparted to the double sheave 8. r i r The outer end of the cylinder 13 has a pipe 14 communicatingtherewith, whichpipe extends to a four-way valve 15. A pipe 16 extends from the 5 opposite end of the cylinder 13 to the opposite side of said four-way va1ve 15. Another side of said four-way valve 15 has a pipe 17 extending therefrom to a gear pump 18 operated by a drive shaft 19 of an electric motor 20. This gear pump '10 18 communicates atone side witha fluid reservoir 21 and at the opposite side with an air-dome 22, as shown in Fig. 2. A pipe 23' extends from the reservoir 21 to the other side of the fourway valve 15. r v

The four-way valve 15 is controlled bya lever 24 carrying a cross arm 25. The lever 24 has a connecting rod 26 secured thereto and extending to an arm 27 of a lever 28 mounted on a post or support 29. The opposite ends of the lever 28 have flexible cables 30 extending to the cross 31, which also has cables 32 connected therewith, and which cables 32 extend to the hand controls at some remote point.

Thearm 25 carries mercury switches 33 adapt- I ed to electrically connect electric cables.34, one

of which extends to. a source of electric power designated generally 1 by the numeral 3.5, while the other extends to the electric motor 20, and w a second cable 36 extends from the other side of the motor 20 to the source of power 35 to complete the circuit. A mechanical switch may be employed, if desired, instead of the automatic mercury switches.

The valve lever is adapted to be automatically moved to a neutral position by a control rod 37 attached thereto and to a slidable rod 38 carrying control stops 39in position to be engaged by the pin 40 extending laterally from and carried by the double sheave 8.

In operating the invention, a pull on one of the cables 32, according to whether or not the door is opened or closed, is transmitted through one of the cables 30 to the lever 28 and through the connecting rod 26 to the valve lever 24, to swing said lever to the proper position, as for instance into the position shown in Fig. 1, which closes the circuit to the motor 20, starting the motor and the pump 18,-which forces the fluid, oil'being ordinarily used, from the reservoir 21 through the pipe 17, four-way valve 15, and pipe 14 into' the end of the cylinder 13, which forces the piston in the cylinder toward the opposite end and moving the connecting rod 12 and the sheave 8 in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1a.

This causes a movement of the cable 5 about the fixed sheaves 6 and 7 to move the trolley 3 in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 5 to complete the opening of the door, the latter following the connecting-rod 2. When the door has reached its completely open position, the pin 40 strikes the stop 39 at the left of Fig. 1a, moving the rods 37 and 38 lengthwise to return the valve lever 24 to its upright position,which automatically deenergizes the motor 20 and stops the pumping operation and likewise the movement of the piston in the cylinder 13.

When the lever 24 is moved in the opposite direction, the operation is reversed. As the fluid is forced out of either end of the cylinder 13, it is forced through the' pipe 23 into the reservoir 21.

The remote control of the four-way valve is very effective and inexpensive. In a long garage, the cables may extend along the long wall, and apull of either of them at any point will operate the door. The movement imparted to the valve lever 24 toautomatically stop the flow of current to the motor also closes the four-way valve 15 and moves the cables to a neutral position. The

motor may be stopped at any point to hold the 1. In a device of the character described, the

combination with a door, of a track, a trolley carried by the trackfor movement therealong,

means connecting the trolley with the door, a

cable connected with the trolley and having the ends thereof fixed, a sheave receiving the cable and movable lengthwise thereof, and a fluid motor for moving said sheave lengthwise of the cable and operating said cable.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination with a door, of a track, a trolley carried by the track for movement therealong, means connecting the trolley with the door, a cable connected with the trolley and having the ends thereof fixed, a sheave receiving the cable and movable lengthwise thereof, a fluid motor for moving said sheave lengthwise of the cable and operating said cable, and means responsive to a predetermined extent of movement of said sheave for'automatically stopping the action of said fluid motor.

combination of a track, a trolley carried by the track for movement therealong for actuating a door, a cable connected with the trolley, a sheave receiving the cable, and a motor for moving the sheave lengthwise of the track to cause movement of the cable along the track and move the trolley for actuating the door.

4. In a device of the character described, the combination of a track, a trolley carried by the track for movement therealong to actuate a door, a cable connected with the trolley, a sheave receiving the cable, and a fluid motor having a piston connected with the sheave for causing movement of the latter lengthwise of the track upon reciprocating movement of the piston to cause movement of the cable along the track and move the trolley for actuating the door.

5. In a device of the character described, the combination of a track, a trolley mounted for movement along the track and adapted to be connected with a door, a cable connectedwith and for causing movement of the trolley, a sheave movable longitudinally of the track for causing movement of the cable, and a fluid motor for actuating the sheave.

6. In a device of the character described, the

3. In a device of the character described, the

combination of a track, a trolley mounted for movement along the track and adapted to. be connected with a door, a cable connected with and for moving the trolley, a double sheave receiving portions of the cable and mounted externally of the track, and motive means for bodily moving the double sheave longitudinally of the track for causing longitudinal movement of the cable. I

7. In a device of the character described, the combination of a track, a trolley mounted for movement along the track, means for connecting the trolley with a door, a cable connected with the trolley for causing movement thereof along the track to actuate the door, a double sheave wholly separate from the trolley and receiving portions of the cable, and a fluid motor for moving the sheave longitudinally of the track for causing longitudinal movement of the cable.

8. In a device of the character described, the 

